Tell Everyone
Call the bank. Skype your parents. Text your supervisor. Send a carrier pigeon to your school teachers. Update your local GP. Tweet at the entire world! It’s a really big deal when you pass your viva. Share and celebrate, and...
Daily viva help for PhDs
Call the bank. Skype your parents. Text your supervisor. Send a carrier pigeon to your school teachers. Update your local GP. Tweet at the entire world! It’s a really big deal when you pass your viva. Share and celebrate, and...
You hear your examiners ask a question. You have a first thought, the shape of an answer appears. Ask yourself another question then to help that shape develop. Try one of the following: Is this the best thing that you...
If you could have three wishes for your viva, what would they be? I can imagine some possibilities… …I wish that it wasn’t too long… …I wish that my examiners would treat me fairly… …I wish I could answer all...
Six viva preparation ideas. Get a piece of paper and pick one of the following to write about. You don’t need to do all of these. Each one offers a different perspective on your PhD. Answer the question, “What’s important...
Today marks five hundred daily posts for the blog(!), and so I wanted to pause and say something about what I see as the biggest, trickiest and most persistent problem surrounding the viva: In general there is a great mismatch...
Almost finished your PhD but getting discouraged? Take a minute or two to reflect on one of these questions: Why did you get originally get interested? Why was this something worth doing? Why had no-one else done this before? Why...
A red sky in the morning, a black cat, what your horoscope says, spilling salt or breaking a mirror… …all could mean something bad will happen. If you believe. If you attach particular significance. Otherwise, they’re just events. Similarly, examiners...
It’s ten years since I finished my PhD and I’ve written several posts in the last few months referencing this. It’s like a little star whose gravity I can’t escape. I enjoyed my PhD, and have very few regrets or...
I love delivering my Viva Survivor session, partly because it helps people, partly because I get to try new things and develop the session more every time, and partly because I’m always kept on my toes by questions from participants....
Are you worried about managing to prepare for the viva because you have work, family or a life? When you submit, sketch out a calendar of the following three months. Show all of the days. Three months is the typical...